Action being taken more than a year after grand jury issued appeal for it

More than a year ago, a Montgomery County grand jury wrote an unusual letter expressing "sincere disappointment" with the commissioners court for possible improprieties and self-dealing. The letter, read aloud at a commissioners court meeting, ended with a public appeal to immediately adopt an ethics plan.

"Our county officials should not profit on the backs of their constituents," said the 410th District Court grand jury, which had just spent months reviewing the county's construction of a federal detention center and state mental health facility and uncovered what it called "ethical violations."

December 2013: Montgomery County attorney writes letter threatening to sue to recover $12.1 in construction overcharges from two facilities

January 2014: Former commissioner, former county auditor and developer deny wrongdoing

June 2014: Proposed county ethics plan under review

County Attorney J.D. Lambright subsequently sent letters threatening to sue a former commissioner, former county auditor and developer. Each has denied any wrongdoing, but Lambright's letters accuse them of involvement in "schemes, fraud and misrepresentations" that caused $12.1 million in overcharges.

Now Lambright is reviewing long-awaited draft ethics guidelines compiled by an outside attorney that would cover not only elected commissioners, but all county employees.

Lambright noted that the proposal went beyond what commissioners had originally ordered: "I don't know how much appetite commissioners will have for going beyond the elected court. But as the county's chief legal adviser, it would be in everybody's best interest to know the ethical framework in which we should operate. I would welcome it."

When the policy is finalized, it will go before the commissioners court for a vote.

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County Judge Alan B. Sadler, who is retiring in January after heading the commissioners court for more than two decades, agreed.

"Ultimately, decisions fall in our lap. But this policy should also apply to any employee involved in the decision-making or recommendation process," he said.

Harris County model

Precinct 2 Commissioner Craig Doyal, who won the Republican primary last month for Sadler's post and is poised to replace him, also supports covering other employees as the county shapes its first-ever ethics policy. "Harris County does that," he noted.

In fact, Conroe attorney Larry Forester, who was hired to write the proposed draft, used Harris County as a model for Montgomery County's draft proposal.

Harris County's policy, updated in 2009, requires department heads, directors and elected officials to disclose their income sources and investments. The information is to be filed with the county clerk and then posted on a website for public review.

Montgomery County's draft proposal, like Harris County's policy, also has a training component to educate county employees and officials about such things as the state laws requiring disclosure of potential conflicts of interest with county vendors or contractors and rules against accepting gifts of more than $100 from anyone doing business with the county.

In addition, Montgomery County's proposal follows Harris County in asking lobbyists to register and disclose their clients and lobbying topics. But Harris County's lobbyist registration has become "voluntary," officials there say, because counties don't have lawmaking authority to make it a requirement, as cities and the state do.

Most importantly, the proposal for Montgomery County, which has a $280 million budget and 2,400 employees, would establish a five-member ethics committee to oversee the policy - another thing Harris County has.

But Harris County's ethics committee no longer meets, as it has no real legal power or authority, especially over sovereign elected officials, according to Dave Kester, the county's human resources and risk management director.

"Harris County Judge Ed Emmett has always wanted the ethics committee to be more powerful and have stronger standards. He's unequivocally disappointed there's not more teeth in it, but we've been told that we have to go back to the state Legislature to get it," said Emmett's spokesman, Joe Stinebaker.

Sadler doesn't know how much difference the new ethics proposal would make. "State law already spells out that you must divulge potential conflicts of interest and then abstain from voting. But this plan can be a guide for those who have questions," he said.

Example in Eversole

Meanwhile, Stinebaker said, any serious complaints against county employees or officials can be handled by law enforcement agencies, as happened to former longtime Harris County commissioner Jerry Eversole.

Eversole resigned in 2011 as part of a plea deal in a federal corruption trial and lately has worked as a lobbyist for the Harris County Department of Education and a regular engineering contractor for the county. He was accused of taking $100,000 in cash and gifts from a real estate developer, Mike Surface, in exchange for steering county business to Surface's companies. Surface later admitted to a judge that he was trying to influence Eversole, who received three years probation for lying to an FBI agent but never admitted any other wrongdoing.

Lambright has declined comment about his office's ongoing discussions in Montgomery County with former County Commissioner Ed Chance, former auditor Linda Breazeale and Jim Galloway of Alliance Development Inc., regarding the $12.1 million in alleged overcharges. None has been charged with a crime.

Repayment demanded

At issue are the costs to the county to build the $44.8 million Joe Corely Detention Facility in 2008 and the $33 million Montgomery County Mental Health Treatment Facility three years later. Lambright's letter demands that Chance pay the county $500,000 that he received from the developer of the facilities; Chance contends the money was a loan that he repaid.

Breazeale has been asked to refund a $242,275 consulting fee that the county paid her to protect the county from overcharges. Galloway has been asked to reimburse the $12.1 million in alleged overcharges from both construction projects.

Attorneys representing the three have insisted their clients will be vindicated and the accusations proved false, but nobody is talking publicly about it.

"These discussions are very sensitive between multiple attorneys. Some information has been turned over but it's moving very slowly," said Lambright, who was unsure when it would conclude.

The county judge and current commissioners hope for a speedy resolution to dispel the cloud that's been hanging over the courthouse. Said Doyal: "We'd like to see some closure."